Prof. Natasha Azzopardi Muscat

Prof. Natasha Azzopardi Muscat

Prof. Natasha Azzopardi Muscat

  M.D. (Melit),M.Sc. (Melit),M.Sc. (Lond),Ph.D. (Maastricht),M.F.P.H.M (UK),F.F.P.H (UK),D.L.S.H.T.M (Lond)

Associate Professor

Room 74
Block A, Level 1
Mater Dei Hospital
Msida
  +356 2340 1110
Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat is a medical doctor and specialist in public health medicine.

She obtained her PhD, The Europeanisation of Health Systems: A Small State Perspective, from Maastricht University in 2016. Her research, which was based on a qualitative approach, required her to draw upon the disciplines of European studies and Small States studies besides health services research.

After completing her PhD she further developed her research in the area of small state health systems. Health policy in islands and small states has been a hitherto under researched area. Understanding health policy implementation in small state health systems can yield valuable lessons for larger countries seeking to implement policy at regional and local levels. The importance of this research has been recognised by the World Health Organisation and in June 2017 the Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta was designated a WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Policies in Small States. Dr Azzopardi Muscat jointly heads this centre with Prof Lino Briguglio.

Between 2001 and 2013 she occupied various senior positions in the Ministry of Health in Malta including that of Chief Medical Officer. Currently she works as a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in the Directorate for Health Information & Research and is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Health Services Management at the University of Malta.

Since 2016 she is the President of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA). Dr Azzopardi Muscat has been invited to speak at several international scientific conferences on behalf of the University of Malta including the Global Burden of Disease Symposium organized by the Institute of Health Metrics in Seattle Washington, at the Global Health Forum organized by the Taiwan Health Promotion Administration.

She writes a bimonthly column in the European Journal of Public Health. In 2018 she was profiled by The Lancet for her contribution to public health https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)32255-4/fulltext?rss=yes.
  • European health policy
  • Public Health
  • Small States
  • Health Systems Research

Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Baeten, R., Clemens, T., Habicht, T., Keskimäki, I., Kowalska-Bobko, I., Sagan, A. & van Ginneken, E. 2018, "The role of the 2011 Patients' Rights in Cross-border Health Care Directive in shaping seven national health systems: Looking beyond patient mobility", Health Policy, .

Barbazza, E., Bak Pedersen, H., Birtanov, Y., Huber, M., Immonen, K., Jakab, M., Kluge, H., Kringos, D., Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Rawaf, S., Stavdal, A. & Tello, J. 2018, "Ten evidence-based policy accelerators for transforming primary health care in the WHO European Region", Public Health Panorama, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 507-514.

Azzopardi Muscat, N. 2017, "The European added value of health system cooperation to ensure access to innovative medicines and technologies", Journal of the Malta College of Pharmacy Practice, vol. 23, pp. 4-7.

Azzopardi Muscat, N., Calleja, N., Buttigieg, S. & Merkur, S. 2017, "Malta: health system review", Health systems in transition, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1-137.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Schroder-Bäck, P. & Brand, H. 2017, "The European Union Joint Procurement Agreement for cross-border health threats: what is the potential for this new mechanism of health system collaboration?", Health Economics, Policy and Law, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 43-59.

England, K. & Azzopardi-Muscat, N. 2017, "Demographic trends and public health in Europe", The European Journal of Public Health, vol. 27, no. suppl_4, pp. 9-13.

Ziglio, E., Azzopardi-Muscat, N. & Briguglio, L. 2017, "Resilience and 21st century public health", Resilience and 21st century public health, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 789-790.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N. 2016, "The Future of Public Health Practice in Europe", The future of public health practice in Europe, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 732.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Sorensen, K., Aluttis, C., Pace, R. & Brand, H. 2016, "Europeanisation of health systems: a qualitative study of domestic actors in a small state", BMC public health, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 334.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Funk, T., Buttigieg, S.C., Grech, K.E. & Brand, H. 2016, "Policy challenges and reforms in small EU member state health systems: a narrative literature review", European journal of public health, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 916-922.

Azzopardi Muscat, N., Clemens, T., Stoner, D. & Brand Helmut 2015, "EU Country Specific Recommendations for Health Systems in the European Semester process:Trends, Discourse and Predictors", Health Policy, vol. 119, no. 3, pp. 375-383.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Aluttis, C., Sorensen, K., Pace, R. & Brand, H. 2015, "The impact of the EU Directive on patients’ rights and cross border health care in Malta", Health Policy, vol. 119, no. 10, pp. 1285-1292.

Azzopardi-Muscat, N. & Brand, H. 2015, "Will European Reference Networks herald a new era of care for patients with rare and complex diseases?", The European Journal of Public Health, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 362-363.

Saliba, V., Muscat, N.A., Vella, M., Montalto, S.A., Fenech, C., McKee, M. & Knai, C. 2014, "Clinicians’, policy makers’ and patients’ views of pediatric cross-border care between Malta and the UK", Journal of health services research & policy, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 153-160.

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